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“Bullshit. How many of those movies lining your shelves have you watched where the guy lets the girl he loves walk away? I saw Kelsey at The Ranch this weekend. She looks miserable, dude. This is the time for grand gestures and fucking boom boxes held over your head outside her window.”
Wyatt crossed his arms and gave Jace a come-on-now look.
“What? I love the shit out of that movie. Hated that song he played though.”
“Didn’t you let Evan leave last year?”
He scowled. “I didn’t have a choice at the time. But as soon as she was back in town, you can bet your ass I went full out.”
“And what, pray tell, was your grand gesture?”
Jace shrugged, his eyes sparkling with the apparent memory. “It may or may not have involved illegal use of a cop uniform and breaking a few laws. But it doesn’t matter what mine was because you need to figure out what’s right for Kelsey. Show her what you can give her that no one else can.”
Wyatt scrubbed his hands over his face, wondering if the end of the world really was near because his little brother was starting to make sense. But the thought of Kelsey sad, even for a moment, had his lungs squeezing tight and the wheels of invention turning in his head. He peered over at Jace and hopped off the counter. “Cancel any plans you have this weekend. I’m going to need your help.”
Jace’s grin went wide.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Kelsey set her phone down in the grass, staring at the screen, still not sure she’d heard correctly. The detective who had helped her with the Miller brothers had just called to tell her that Howie Miller wouldn’t bother her anymore. The entire D-Town operation had been exposed over the weekend, including players from the bottom rungs all the way to the top dog—a guy with known ties to a drug trafficking ring in Houston. Apparently, an anonymous citizen had hired top-notch private investigators to track Howie’s steps for the last few weeks and had gotten one of the players to turn against the group and give up vital information. None of the gang would be getting out of prison for a very long time.
She couldn’t even process that good news. She was safe. Safe. She wouldn’t have to leave.
A shadow crossed over the patch of grass she’d been sightlessly staring at, and cowboy boots appeared in her peripheral vision. Kelsey tilted her head up to find Grant eclipsing the sun. He lowered himself, sitting back on his haunches and tilting his hat upward. “They called you.”
She blinked, the statement stunning her. “You did this?”
His mouth lifted at the corner. “Nah, I wish I could take credit for the idea, but I just helped someone get in touch with a few old military buddies of mine. I knew they’d come through, though.”Author: Roni Loren
Someone. “Wyatt.”
“He set it up before you left for the trip. He wanted you to be able to come home without worries.”
She shook her head, the hollow ache that had been a constant presence since she’d gotten back from the trip seemed to yawn even wider. “I don’t even know what to do with that.”
Grant gave her knee a squeeze. “You do what you want, darlin’. You can go back to your life. Get your old job back, go to school.”
She certainly could, though she wouldn’t need the job for the money. She had a two-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar check in her cabin. Wyatt apparently wasn’t so great at math because he’d added an extra zero. She couldn’t bring herself to cash it though.
She forced a smile for Grant, knowing that was the appropriate response to the situation. But all the things she’d been so happy with only a few weeks ago, the existence she’d been so desperate to hold on to, now seemed painted in colorless strokes in her mind—a faded version of her happy ending. “Thanks, Grant. Really. I can’t even tell you how much it means that you helped.”
“Anytime, darlin’.” He put a hand out to her and pulled her to her feet as he rose. “But that’s not why I came out here to talk to you.”
“Oh?”
He cocked his head toward the main house at The Ranch. “I know you stopped taking clients, but there’s a certain college football player in there who says he really needs to see you. What do you want me to tell him?”
She frowned. “Hawk’s here?”
“Yeah, apparently he took it upon himself to drive out here when the receptionist told him you weren’t taking appointments.”
She stuck her hands in the back pockets of her jeans, staring up at the house. If Hawk had gone through all that trouble, something must be wrong. No way could she walk away from that guy if he needed her. “I’ll go see him.”
Grant smiled. “Kid got to you, huh?”
She sighed, a sound she found herself making a lot lately. “He’s a good guy with a good heart. I just wish I could take away all that shame he carries around with him, make his life a little easier.”
Grant laid his arm over her shoulder and guided her toward the house. “You know, darlin’, I think I was wrong. Caring that much about your sub, wanting to take away his pain through pain . . . you do have a true domme’s will in you.”
